GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Plans to auction 5,000 artifacts from the Titanic on the 100th anniversary of the world’s most famous shipwreck are on hold.

The largest collection artifacts gathered from The Titanic, with an estimated value of at least $189 million, were set to be auctioned off in a single lot by owner Premiere Exhibitions, Inc., the Atlanta-based parent company headed by Grand Rapids restaurateur Mark Sellers, who owns HopCat and Stella's Lounge among other downtown properties in West Michigan.

But Premiere Exhibitions, the parent company of RMS Titanic Inc., which owns the artifacts, put the announcement on hold because the company is in discussions with multiple parties for the purchase of the collection.

“It's not about money so much as it is about turning the ownership over to someone better equipped for stewardship of these artifacts,” Sellers said in January.

A planned press conference that had been scheduled for Wednesday was canceled to “conduct these negotiations with due diligence and confidence.”

The auction by Guernsey's, a New York City auction house, was scheduled for April 11, close to the actual 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship on April 15, just five days after it left Southhampton, England, on its maiden Atlantic voyage to New York.

Premier’s collection, ranging from fine china to ship's fittings, was recovered in seven expeditions to the wreck site from 1987 to 2004 and painstakingly stabilized following their recovery from 2 ½ miles beneath the ocean's surface.

The collection of some 5,500 artifacts were appraised at $189 million in 2007. But that doesn't include additional intellectual property – video of the dives, 3D images of the ship, and the first comprehensive survey map of the site – gathered from a scientific investigation in 2010.

In January, Sellers said The Titanic collection won't necessarily go to the highest bidder. The buyer – mostly likely a museum, foundation or similar institution – will have to demonstrate its ability to preserve and maintain the collection.